Short Answer Questions

4. What does Inder Lal's mother do to calm the screaming person in the courtyard the night of March 9th?

5. What topic do Olivia and Douglas start to discuss during her growing friendship with the Nawab?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the narrator's clothing and her reasons for choosing them in Section 4.

2. Why is the location of the narrator's first act of intimacy with Inder Lal significant?

3. Based on her actions in Section 23, is the narrator a kindhearted person?

4. Why does Inder Lal's mother take Ritu on the pilgrimage?

5. Why does Olivia want a child in Section 20?

6. Explain the importance of the red strings in Section 26.

7. What does the narrator reveal about Douglas's life in Section 30?

8. Describe the beggar the narrator notices and helps in Section 23.

9. What is Satipur like in Section 17?

10. What does Inder Lal think of India?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The relationships explored in Heat and Dust span generations, cultures and bloodlines. Of course, the connection between Olivia and the narrator is intriguing as they are not related by blood, and will never meet, yet Olivia's life is having a strong impact on the narrator's. Analyze the following aspects of this unique relationship.

1) Is Olivia a good person? Is the narrator?

2) Is it disloyal of the narrator to give so much attention and energy to the woman who betrayed her grandfather?

3) How would the story be different if the narrator was able to meet Olivia?

Essay Topic 2

In Heat and Dust, the role of each character adds depth to the message of the novel. Choose 3 characters listed below. For each, examine how the role each one plays, or refuses to play, helps to advance the storyline.

1) The Narrator.

2) Maji.

3) The Nawab.

4) Harry.

5) Chid.

6) Olivia.

Essay Topic 3

Inder Lal, the narrator, Olivia and the Nawab all carry on affairs while married or with someone who is married.

1)Is any one of these deceptions more acceptable than the others? For instance, is it more okay for the narrator to have the affair than Inder Lal because she is unmarried?

2) How does the act of deception affect the character's future in the story?

3) What other acts of deception occur in the novel, and how do they impact the characters involved?